July 2011 Archives

July 6, 2011

There’s no doubt in the minds of businesses, bloggers and pretty much everyone else that great potential exists in the realm of social media marketing. However, the wrong way to go about this is to take a one-size-fits-all approach by using popular sites such as Digg or StumbleUpon.

However, this is hardly the way you should go about working on getting more traffic for your blogs in particular as there are certain factors that might fit in with what you are trying to promote on your blog, and this will make the difference in generating readers for your blog:

#1: Audience – general or niche

Always ask yourself whether you need a general or niche audience for your blog, and in finding the answer to this question, you will then be able to make the choice between popular news sites such as Reddit or StumbleUpon or looking for social media sites that cater to specific niches.

#2: What content works or does not work

Since every social media site’s users enjoy reading certain types of content (while also disliking certain types of content), this should give you a good idea as to what kind of content you should prepare so that you can generate a lot of traffic. Alternatively, in knowing what kind of content readers of that particular social media site do not like, you will be able to avoid writing that kind of content.

#3: Demographics

It’s not just about the number of visitors you receive but the quality of these visitors that make the difference especially if you are offering a product or service. Now if you pick a social media site that has similar demographics to your target audience, you can be sure that this approach will be far more effective than targeting a general audience.

July 14, 2011

One of the biggest no-no’s in social media marketing is to not push your products but to start conversations that will lead to relationship building going forward. This takes time, and once it does pick up, you will find yourself amongst brand loyalists and promoters that will not only spread the word about what you offer but also turn skeptics into believers.

You can imagine how important relationship building is in the social media space as evidenced by several success stories, and so here are a few simple tips by which you can build relationships:

#1: Communicate, communicate, communicate…

If you are able to communicate earlier as often as possible than your competitors, this is how you can stay on top in your industry. Whether you use forums, newsletter or even blogs, the faster you deal with the hottest topics in your industry, the more your audience will look up to you as a source of information that they might need.

#2: Be honest

If you wish to lie when using social media, this is one of the worst ways by which you can promote your business as it always comes back to haunt much later, and will do much more damage than you can imagine. So, it is important that you are honest about your company’s advantages and shortcomings. One of the worst ideas when running a business is to insult someone’s intelligence as most customers are wary enough to spot a ‘fake’ a million miles away.

#3: Remember to listen

As with any normal relationship, it is important to listen more than talk. Since social media allows you to interact with your customers and get to hear what they say, it is one of the best ways by which you can build relationships with them when you pay attention to what they need and meet their expectations promptly.

July 20, 2011

Web design is an art. Like all art forms, it requires practice, skill and patience to perfect. Individuals who design websites know little tricks to create the perfect webpage for clients. But what if youve never designed a web page before. How would you design and market the information found on the site? Before you run off and design your own website, you may want to understand a few things in order to create a great, “Search-Engine Friendly” website.

What is a Search-Engine Friendly Website?

When you hear the phrase, “Search-Engine Friendly”, it refers to a search engines ability to easily locate a website using certain keywords and phrases found within the text. If a website does not use noticeable keywords in the text, a search engine will have a difficult time locating the site.

If you are experienced with HTML, you should have no problem understanding the requirements for creating a “Search-Engine Friendly” website. Those less fortunate may need to hire a company that provides SEO services to help optimize your code to build a search-engine friendly website.

What to Look For

1. Once your website is complete, you want to check your HTML code for any errors that may appear. Remember, search engines use keywords found on your web pages to locate it, if the HTML code contains inaccuracies, the search engine will think the keyword is part of the HTML code and not of the text. This can result in the omission of part of your webpage from the search engine indexes.

2. Check your title tags to ensure you are using relevant keywords. Search engines use title tags to determine what the webpage is about. If the tag states only your websites name on each individual web page, the search engine will have difficultly understanding what the page is regarding, offering low placement on its search results. Instead, you want each individual web page to include a relevant tag describing the information found on that page. For instance, a web page regarding iPod specifications, may want to include a title “iPod Weight and Height Specifications”.

3. Remove any hidden text and eliminate and duplicate content. Duplicate content causes the information to become diluted when other websites link to your page. If the information becomes diluted, the search engine places the duplicate content low on its search results. With hidden text, webmasters tend to place keywords hidden from a visitors view by changing the color of the keyword to blend in with the background. This black hat trick negatively influences the search engines results and can get your webpage ban from a search engines indexes.

How to Market Your Website

Often the hardest part of managing a website is making the website marketable to a search engine. SEM (Search Engine Marketing) companies specialize in helping create marketing ads for your website that utilize pay-per-click ads to boost traffic to your site. In order to create a marketable site, you want to ensure your webpage is using relevant keywords to describe your products, using correct meta-tags and proper keywords on pay-per-click ads. The keywords found on a search engines ads link to a landing page of your choice. The landing page design is important in providing scores for your ads that search engines give out. If you are creating ads with keywords not found on your landing page, the search engine will produce a lower score and offer lower ad placement for your webpage.

Remember, designing and marketing your website takes practice, skill and dedication. Do not expect to gain all the necessary knowledge over night. You may find yourself needing direction and help from an SME, SEO or a professional web designer to help you create the website of your dreams.

July 21, 2011

Almost every business realizes the vast potential that the internet holds to sell their products, and which is why internet marketing strategies have taken the business world by storm, no matter what size the business really is.

The success of any strategy is to generate large amounts of quality traffic to your website if sales are to be made, and for this to happen, there are a few tips that can ensure you do get this going. So here are free Internet marketing tips that will increase your sales:

#1: SEO article writing

One of the best ways by which you can generate traffic to your website is to write a keyword-rich SEO article while linking your website to it and posting it at the major article directories on the internet. As soon as you post it at several e-zines, you’ll find that more and more visitors will drop by your site to see what you offer.

#2: Link exchange between relevant websites

If you Google your website’s keywords, then you can ask for a link exchange with the websites that appear on top of the search results. This is another low-cost method by which you can generate more traffic to your website as well.

#3: Participate on forums, boards and social networking sites

One of the ways by which you can introduce your product to people is by participating on forums, boards and particular social networking sites that cater to your product or service. The best part about this kind of marketing strategy is that it costs nothing while you are able to make a lot of friends in the process.

#4: Post your site’s link to Web Directories

Do not hesitate to post your website to web directories as many and as much as possible.

July 22, 2011

Television and radio stations, advertising agencies and even Fortune 500 companies all depend on voice actors. Whether you’re shooting a commercial, a how-to training video, or an animated movie, voice actors are the people behind the scenes, the ones who bring your script to life and convey your message to the audience.

But how do you find a talented voice actor without having to pay high union prices? It’s easy. We found a production company in Virginia Beach, Virginia that makes it possible. Founded in 1966, Studio Center is the largest, fastest growing video and audio production company in the country. While the company offers just about every service you need to make a movie or commercial — including music, script writing and motion graphics — they also provide more than 1,000 uniquely talented voice actors with a variety of voice talents. What’s the best part? Most of the voice actors are non-union, with means they’re affordable.

Finding the right talent through Studio Center is also easy when you visit the company’s website. Producers can search for the voice they’re looking for by selecting from various categories on the website, including top ten men, top ten women, kids and teens and foreign voices. Producers can even search by new talent or browse the entire catalog by name.

Whether you need to need to find a voice actor or actress for a commercial, how-to training video, or an animated movie, you’re sure to find the best person for the job at Studio Center.

July 30, 2011

Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) is one of the most popular ways by which you can target customers for your products or services, and for this, all one has to do is sign a contract with any of the search engines for a particular keywords.

If people search for this particular keyword, you can sure that your website link will be the first to appear in the Sponsored advertisements. While this will cost your company, there are ways by which you can ensure that you ad pops up before your competitors and you are able to convert them into customers in the process.

Knowing which market you belong to is the first step that you must take if you want your PPC campaign to work. For this, you must first list keywords that belong to your particular product or service. If you need assistance to make a comprehensive list, use the internet to help you find keywords that belong to your niche while also finding out how many other campaigns are being run by your competitors for the same keyword as well.

#2: Picking Low competition keywords

To say the least, PPC is not necessarily cheap is to make an understatement as the more people who click on the ads will result in you paying the search engine a certain amount per click. So it is recommended that you find variations around your main keyword that costs lesser (but are also searched for) so that you don’t end up with a bill that is way out of your budget.

#3: Write compelling ads

If you want to attract customers to your product, you have to remember that by using the PPC method, you will only get about 125 characters to sell your product or service. So you have to write an ad that is compelling enough for your target audience to read and link up with.